Supreme Court In Michigan Examines Injured Motorists Right To Sue For Pain And Suffering

Mr. McCormick suffered from a serious ankle fracture that required him to undergo two painful surgeries.  After one year his doctor allowed him to go back to work.  Despite his employer placing him into a different job, he was denied compensation because the legal standard established in 2004 by the conservative Supreme Court in Kreiner restricts auto accident victims rights.

The conservative Court in Kreiner added its own language to No-Fault Law by establishing its own threshold that a victim has no right to compensation unless “the course or trajectory of the plaintiff's normal life has been affected.

Insurance companies routinely use this ruling to deny accident victims right to compensation by holding that a victim cannot prove their entire life has been adversely affected by taking the words “course” or “trajectory” to mean for remainder of their life.

Was this really what the legislature intended?  Even conservative minded court advocates who rail against “judge made law” should be able to agree that if the legislature intended the threshold to mean that a person must suffer for the remainder of their life, they could have stated so.

Did you see your auto insurance premium go down in 2004? The McCormick case will be heard by the Court between October, 2009, and May, 2010.